So someone made a new open-source editor for quake 1 (yes that game that was released in 1996). The "normal" editor Worldcraft is basically the Hammer we all know, very little has changed in the editing of source/idTech1 engine maps this millennium. It's the same program but with more features added on with time.

However, TrenchBroom as I said is new, and the most surprising thing it does is throw away all 2d views, and auto corrects invalid brushes, adds three-point clipping and probably some other stuff.

It still produces quake maps, with quake engine limitations, so it's not going to amaze people that much (unless you actually have mapped for quake or even goldsrc, then you know how painful it is to only have brushes to make levels with). Features like realtime lighting in-editor is still off-limits to these old engines, no matter how you code the software.

Unfortunately, that only works if you make a new mod from scratch. So, if you're mapping for an existing game - tough luck until Valve does something.

I always thought it was weird that Valve, a company so focused on technology software and innovation, keeps Hammer back in the stone ages. Heck, how long would it even take to give us a UI that wasn't an eyesore?

I always thought it was weird that Valve, a company so focused on technology software and innovation, keeps Hammer back in the stone ages. Heck, how long would it even take to give us a UI that wasn't an eyesore?

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I've always wondered why they weren't too big on creating better tools as well. I've done a little editing back in the Quake1 and Quake2 days with QERadiant, and Hammer is pretty much exactly how I remember that editor. It makes me a bit apprehensive about what kind of developer tools we might get with "Source Engine 2" (if they really are working on it).

In the meantime, let's go back at 2004 and listen to everyone saying how Source was that good. Now back, 9 years later, we have a new engine coming on and QUAKE 1 has got a better (fan-made, apparently) mapper editor.

Better is debatable. Sure it looks fancy, but it's still quake, it is essentially only doing one thing: brushes. I'll hold my complaints until I see a third-party editor that does everything Hammer does, and then more/better on top.

The only-3D thing seems... odd to me. I guess it depends on the shortcut functionality how good it actually would work.

I always thought it was weird that Valve, a company so focused on technology software and innovation, keeps Hammer back in the stone ages. Heck, how long would it even take to give us a UI that wasn't an eyesore?

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I would argue that they've been slacking off on the "technology software and innovation" front in general lately; most other engines have been kicking Source's ass for some time now in terms of what they're capable of. Preemptive loading, deferred lighting, ambient occlusion, destruct-o-physics, tessellation... even BioShock could do some things graphically that Source still can't almost six years later.

There is most likely also going to be some work to get this to support ioquake3, given that this is a fairly good editor (from the looks of it) that is open source. I'd love to see this support the source engine as well; competition is always good for the consumer.